Tofu and Cabbage With Salted, Fermented Blackbeans

Posted byNoriePosted inRecipe, VegetablesTags:,

Tochong Repolyo

With kimchi

This dish is a takeoff from a dish with tofu and pork or fish.  I think it was called “Tochong Baboy”, which is pork for baboy.  But my son and his wife and all my kids are into the vegetarian fad these days that they won’t eat any meat or traces of meat at all so I had to come up with this dish that was surprisingly very close to the original dish with meat. 

This dish usually has strips of pork or chicken but it is omitted in this recipe.

The recipe is as follows:

  • 1/2 small head cabbage cut up
  • 2 to 3 stalks celery cut up
  • 1 cup cut up kimchi (optional but will be good)
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • ½ medium onion sliced thin
  • 1 in. ginger root cut into thin strips
  • 1 pkg. Hard Tofu cubed
  • 1 tsp. Garlic with blackbean sauce
  • 1 tsp. Chili with blackbeans
  • 1 TBSP. fermented and salted blackbeans
  • 1 tsp. Oyster sauce
  • 1 tsp. Hoisin sauce
  • Soy sauce or salt to taste
  • Vegetable oil for frying and sautéing
  • ¼ cup water
  • 1 heaping tsp. cornstarch + 1/4 cup cool water

Fry the tofu until golden brown on all sides and set aside. Saute garlic, onion and ginger root in 2 TBS vegetable oil or Olive oil.  Add the seasonings and the ¼ cup water.  Simmer and add the vegetables.  Add the fried tofu, stir and simmer covered for a couple of minutes. Stir or turn the vegetables over to cook evenly. Cook until the vegetables are crisp tender.  Adjust seasonings. To make it thick, you can add a slurry of 1 heaping tsp. cornstarch dissolved in 1/2 cup water at the end and continue to boil until thickened.

The recipe above is large.  It can be cut in half for a smaller group.

For the non-vegetarians and would like the real, traditional recipe, add ½ pound of pork loin cut in strips, ½” wide and 2” long.  Brown them in a skillet in the oil, set aside then sauté the ingredients and add the pork back.  Continue as above.  Chicken strips can also be used for meat instead of pork.

Enjoy with white rice and have some chili with blackbean sauce or Sriracha sauce on the side. I also like it with a little tahore (fermented bean cake).